Summary
Health: The player in Halo has a limited, non-regenerating health bar which can be fully restored by picking up health packs; it is represented by the segmented blue rectangles in the graphic at the right. Running completely out of health will result in death, but having lower health doesn't impede player actions. A player's health can only be reduced if his shields have failed. If the player's health is low the game plays a low heart-beat sound.
Contrary to popular belief, there is a small amount of health in Halo 2. It recharges with the shields as the MJOLNIR armor used in this game injects Biofoam into the user, which heals injuries faster.
The health system in Halo 3 is a bit more complicated. Bungie has defined a player as having 115 hit points, 45 body (health) points and 70 shield points. After a player is damaged, their health will begin to slowly regenerate after 10 seconds without taking damage. Health regenerates at 9HP/second, taking about 7.75 seconds to recharge from the brink of death. If you are almost killed but recharge your shield, this does not guarantee safety, as your health is independent. This information was gathered from a Bungie weekly update on 2/8/08
There are three types of powerups available in Halo:
Health packs
- Main article: Health Pack
A single health pack will fully restore the player's health, but does not regenerate shields.
Active Camouflage
- Main article: Active Camouflage
Reduces the player's visibility for a period of time, making him nearly transparent (the player becomes little more than a distortion in the air).
Overshield
- Main article: Overshield
The overshield is a non-regenerating extra shield which functions on top of the regular shield, giving the player's shields three times their normal damage capacity.